


Tricky Treats

by SaraJaye



Series: Ever After 'Verse [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Banter, Candy, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Family Fluff, Friendship, Halloween, M/M, Pregnant Allura (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 15:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21255662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: Shiro, Keith, Allura, and Lance take their kids candy shopping. All of them. Also, Allura's pregnant again. What could go wrong? Surprisingly, not as much as one would imagine!





	Tricky Treats

It's Lisa and Danny's first Halloween as Shiroganes, so Lance suggested their families take the kids to the store to pick out Halloween candy together. Actually, no, it was _Allura_ who suggested it. Allura, seven months pregnant, a time when most women would be too tired to even _think_ about kids and candy and the chaos of Halloween soon to come. Shiro knows Allura's always been made of strong stuff, but surely even the woman who brought him back to life with her own hands must have her limits.

"If I can handle taking care of twins and going to meetings on New Altea, I can handle this," she says as they step into the party store. It's not packed, but there are a few other kids with their parents, as well as plenty of adults. Probably a few parents who dropped their kids off with a sitter or left them at the playground so they didn't have to deal with any begging or whining.

"Boy, this takes me back," Lance sighs, looking across the aisles of cheap costumes, masks, and decorations. "When I was a kid, Mom always took us here to get our costumes because it was too expensive to go to an actual costume store, even on Halloween. Not that we were poor or anything!"

"Hey, she was buying costumes for four kids," Keith laughs. "Besides, costume shops are kinda overrated. Dad used to make mine. Then again, we _were_ poor." Shiro pats his shoulder.

"My family wasn't, but Mom made our costumes anyway. Sewing was as natural as breathing to her." He smiles warmly. "One year I wanted to be Joe the Condor, and Ryou wanted to be Spider-Man. We decided this a week before Halloween, and she had those things ready in three days." Allura's eyes widen.

"That's impossible! How did she do that and still find time to sleep?" Shiro chuckles.

"She's a fast worker. Actually, she pretty much grew up sewing, thanks to her foster parents. In fact, that's kind of how she met my father."

"Uncle Shirooooo!" Emmeline tugs at his arm, yanking Shiro back from the verge of reminiscence and reminding him why they're there. Alor and Lisa are already running towards the candy aisle, Sven chasing them. The party store isn't _that_ big, but it's a general rule that if kids wander off it usually takes no less than half an hour to find them.

"I'll tell you all about that another time."

"Good, now let's get this done. I may have more energy than the average pregnant woman, but even I have my limits," Allura says, patting her big belly for emphasis. Lance offers her his arm like a gentleman, and Keith takes Shiro's hand.

"Did we bring a list?" he asks. "I know we meant to make one, but did we ever get around to it?"

"No." Shiro sighs. "We'll have to brainstorm and see what's on sale."

"And what the kids are gonna be willing to eat if there's leftovers," Lance reminds them. None of their kids are too picky, but Emmeline is obsessed with white chocolate, Sven can't have anything sticky thanks to his braces, and Lisa hates Smarties as much as Keith does. Athena and Alor, on the other hand, can't get enough of them.

They find the kids quickly enough, and they're already arguing over what to get. Of course. Alor complains about calling white chocolate "chocolate" because it doesn't _taste_ like chocolate, while Athena tells him it really doesn't matter. Sven stares longing at the Almond Joy and Snickers.

"Now I know how Bonnie in my class feels about being allergic to milk," he sighs.

"You're not _allergic,_ silly, you just can't have stuff that sticks in your braces. You can have it again in a year once they come off," Emmeline says, patting his shoulder. Sven manages a small smile, and Keith ruffles his hair.

"Just be glad they're not as complicated as they were when I was a kid," he says, a bit jokingly. Even the nearly-invisible braces have to be treated like glass, and Sven's not the only kid wondering when they'll invent laser tooth straightening.

"Well, Daddy and I are very very allergic to Smarties," Lisa says. Emmeline pokes her in the ribs, and Lisa pouts. "Well, _thinking_ about them makes my mouth hurt!" Shiro tries not to roll his eyes, because he _does_ know what it's like to hate a food that much. Natto and candy corn make him want to gag.

"Just give them to me," Athena says. "I'll take all the Smarties if anyone doesn't want 'em!"

"You can have mine," Emmeline says. "I like them, but I always get too many and I get really sick of them."

They keep up the chatter as they pore over the selection, the kids arguing and debating one minute and squealing in agreement the next. One candy everyone loves unconditionally are the Reese's cups and mini Nestle Crunch bars, while the one thing they _don't_ like are the circus peanuts.

"Marco loves those things and I'll never understand why," Lance groans. Allura eyes them for a split second before going for the Bit-o-Honeys instead.

"Even I'm not _that_ pregnant."

At one point the cart is half full, too much candy even for two families who see a lot of Halloween traffic. Everyone looks to Shiro to tell the kids no, they don't need _two_ bags of the Reese's mix. Yes, there's enough plain Hershey bars so Sven can take some of the leftovers. No, Emmeline, it's too early for the white chocolate peppermint truffles.

"But they're out!" Emmeline cries. "So what if they're for Christmas instead of Halloween?"

"The holidays already run together too much without you mixing Christmas candy with the Halloween stuff," Athena scolds. At eleven, she's old enough to mimic the adults groaning about this trend that's been in effect since Shiro was a pre-teen and won't be stopping anytime soon. Emmeline pouts.

"I thought you were one of us, Athena!"

"I'm not the only kid who thinks that and you know it."

"But-"

"There's too much candy in this cart anyway, and we've been here long enough," Allura cuts in. "We must narrow down our final choices and go home before the roads get crowded." By now she's looking a little tired, and Shiro doesn't blame her. Keith's gently taking a bag of Starburst from Lisa, and Lance is whimpering as he forces himself to look away from the ghost-shaped Peeps.

Somehow, they narrow their choices down to two bags per family, pay for everything, and make it back to Shiro's van before two o'clock.

"Do we have a safe hiding place for the candy, Allura?" Lance asks, and Keith turns paler than usual.

"Oh, quiznak. Shiro-"

"I know. Don't worry, babe, we'll find a better place." Last year, Sven and Athena had been caught opening the bags and helping themselves two days before Halloween. This time, wherever they hide the candy needs a good, strong lock even Kosmo's claws won't be able to open.

"Is Halloween with your family always so much fun?" Danny asks Sven.

"Yeah, I wanna go candy shopping with Auntie Allura and Uncle Lance again next year," Lisa adds. Alor and Emmeline chime in that this is clearly the best idea ever, and Athena taps Shiro on the shoulder.

"Can we, Daddy? Please?"

And Shiro reflects on the past twenty minutes. The arguments, the noisy chatter, the half-full cart, the Christmas stuff hanging around when it's still autumn. Lance trying to parent despite still being a bit of a kid at heart. Keith cringing every time Alor or Athena picked up a bag of Smarties. Allura's eyes glowing with fascination, because she'll always look at Earth holidays in such a way.

And he smiles, because this is the kind of family chaos he never thought he'd have.

"We'll see."

They drop the McClains off at their house, and as soon as they get inside Sven practically drags the others upstairs to talk costumes. They're going as a quartet from some book or show or another this year, to really drive it home that Danny and Lisa are part of the family now.

"I bet they end up picking Mario and the others from the Doki Doki Panic ripoff lineup," Keith chuckles as he sinks onto the couch. Shiro sits down beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"My bet's on the original Scooby gang. They can even dress Kosmo as Scooby and Yurak as a more tolerable Scrappy!" He grins. "Wanna place a wager? Winner gives the loser a kiss at sundown on Halloween." Keith chuckles, tilting his head up, his eyes gleaming.

"In other words, we both win. This is why I love making bets with you, Space Ace." And Shiro brings their lips together for a preview.


End file.
